He Had Me at Monkey

Oh my goodness, did any of you see the bachelor finale last night! I loved it. What a great season. Matt called the girl that he picked (shayne) 'monkey' as a term of endearment. The proposal was adorable. The best part was when he said "Monkey, will you marry me?" Come on, that was cute.
And usually bachelor fans have to wait several months in between seasons, but not this time, they are starting the next installment of the Bachelorette right away! It starts next week! ABC is really treating me right.

This Just In!

And the winners are.......

Congrats to Sara S., Jessica, and Lara! I will email you to confirm your mailing addresses, but I think that I have all of your current info.

I loved all of your answers to the questions! let's see, my answers would be
1. Twilight(so far, i've only read the first one, b/c i can't get the second one (no one i know has it and i'm like #90 on the waiting list a at the library).... well, i could buy it, but i'm too cheap) that's why i need to get my $1000 shopping spree to
2. Target -but i always spend tons of time there looking at jewelry, housewares, kids clothes, clothes for me (have you been there lately, everything is so cute!) and just generally browsing so i would have to be sure to fuel up beforehand on plenty of
3. Chips & Salsa and Coconut Bars

ps-sorry i was in my jammies in the picture. But incidentally, see those blue pants i'm wearing, Jessica gave them to me. And look at that, she won. Moral of the story; maybe you should all try giving me more stuff. Take it as a lesson learned, people.

Vanessa Gives Back

In the spirit of Idol Gives Back (which airs tonight!) I was inspired to 'give back'. No, I won't be giving you money, or feeding the poor, but you (yes you) will (possibly) win a prize that consists of a random combination of my excess (un-used of course) Bath & Body Works products! (possibly the only benefit of working there is that i get stuff really cheap).
A couple of my friends, Bethany and Margo, have this Pay it Forward lottery thingy on their blogs. All you have to do is put a comment on the post and they will enter you into a drawing, and then you get something if you win, and then you get to do it on your blog. Well, it takes a week to find out if you win, and I'm not so good at waiting and seeing. You see, generally, I only like results. And I don't like the process of getting those results. Don't get me wrong, I still hope I win, because i really like winning stuff. But I also really like to give stuff away! So, this is my version of their Pay It Forward thing (with a few minor changes).
PRO: since I'm not calling it 'pay it forward', you don't actually have to 'pay it forward' if you win! just sit back and relax with your prize.
CON: I'm going to make you earn your prize! Instead of simply commenting on this post, your comment has to include.....
(1)the name of your favorite book and/or
(2) if you had a $1000 shopping spree to one store, what would it be? and/or
(3)if you had an endless supply of one food, what would it be?
(optional: you can also include what you like best about me. no pressure, totally optional).
I also thought maybe with the lure of a prize, i could get some of my friends and family who I know read this blog, to try making a comment-it's really fun guys!- and maybe you'll win, and worst case scenario, you won't win! worst case scenario for me is that no one will comment, and the harsh reality will hit me that I have no friends, even when i am offering them fabulous prizes to publicly display said friendship.......
Anyhoo, I will post the name of the winner on April 18th. May the best 'The Neal World' reader win!

Low Expectations = Complete Satisfaction!

Thanks to everyone who made my birthday great! I had absolutely no expectations for this birthday. Basically, anything above the stomach flu would have been a success in my eyes. So, I was pleasantly surprised when not only was I able to keep the birthday shambles at bay, I actually quite enjoyed myself!!
My morning went something like this:
8:15 am
(I am sleeping soundly and cozily in my bed with no plans of changing that.)
j: vanessa, you need to get up, i want to take you somewhere.
me: (groggily and with eyes closed) i don't want to go anywhere. i'm comfy.
j: yes, get up.
me: if you're trying to take me to breakfast, i don't want breakfast. i want to sleep.
j: it's not breakfast. just get up.
me: but what about bubba, he is still sleeping.
j: bubba will have to get up.
v: but, he's a baby.

8:30 am
me: what am i supposed to wear?
j: doesn't matter
me: (in my pj's) can i wear this?
j: (longish pause) do you feel comfortable in that?
me: depends on who's going to see me...does this have anything to do with my friends?
j: (no pause) you don't have any friends.

wow, long story short, (well, i guess long story long since it already is) my friends came to pick me up for a surprise breakfast! what a great way to start the day! thanks guys!!


Next, Jared's fabulous mom came up to watch the kiddos for us so that we could spend the day doing whatever I wanted to do! We spent the afternoon thrift store shopping, and then regular shopping. The sun was even shining. It was so fun.


oh, and also, i found out that my celebrity love match is Will Ferrell. The Love Machine told me. How does the Love Machine know me so well?

Romance Dove

You should try this, it's funny stuff.
YOUR ROCK STAR NAME: (first pet & current car): Skeeter Windstar
YOUR GANGSTA NAME: (fave ice cream flavor, favorite cookie):
Chocolate Marshmallow Macaroon
YOUR "FLY Guy/Girl" NAME: (first initial of first name, first three letters of your last name): V-Cut(i used my maiden name b/c it sounded more 'fly')
YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (favorite color, favorite animal): Pink Penguin
YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, city where you were born):
Lynn Rexburg
YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first): Neava
SUPERHERO NAME: ("The" + 2nd favorite color, favorite drink):
The Red Hot Chocolate
NASCAR NAME: (the first names of your grandfathers): Earl Gordon
STRIPPER NAME: (the name of your favorite perfume/cologne/scent, favorite candy): Romance Dove
TV WEATHER ANCHOR NAME: (Your 4th grade teacher's last name, a major city that starts with the same letter): Richardson Roanoke
SPY NAME: (your favorite season/holiday, flower): Spring Lilac
CARTOON NAME: (favorite fruit, article of clothing you're wearing right now + "ie" or "y"):Cherry Fleecey
HIPPY NAME: (What you ate for breakfast, your favorite tree):
Waffle Redbud
YOUR ROCK STAR TOUR NAME: ("The" + Your fave hobby, fave weather element + "Tour"): The Baking Sunshine Tour
I'm not going to tag anyone, because I didn't get tagged. But do it anyway, because I don't think you want to upset The Red Hot Chocolate.

I Heart...

Valentine's day yesterday inspired me to think about some things that I am currently loving, besides the obvious things (family, cookies).

-Jane Austen. I cannot seem to get enough Jane Austen lately. Books, movies, and right now on pbs, they are showing a Jane Austen Theater every Sunday night.
-Kim Parker Art. Especially in the winter. It makes me feel better.
-My Swiffer wet-jet
-Cilantro (if you read my cooking blog, I'm sure you are very aware of (and possibly annoyed by) this)
- My local BFF's

Lindsay, Ruth and Kim. They are the greatest.

-Also, I love (and miss) my not-so-local BFF's (you know who you are!)
-Polka dots (scrapbook paper, clothing, etc.)
-Pine Trees and the air that is in places with lots of pine trees (I haven't actually been able to experience these lately, but I've been doing a lot of thinking about pine trees and clean air and the such).
-Chocolate chip cookies. Ignore that. I wasn't supposed to mention cookies.

Couples Quiz

Yay, I got tagged by my good friend kim (who btw just started a blog and I’m giddy about it). I say Yay, because I really do like doing quizzes about myself. I think that probably most people who have a blog probably do. I think it’s the same kind of person who blogs, and who likes quizzes (about themselves or others). And this quiz seems especially appropriate for the time of year... happy valentine's month!

How long have you and your significant other been together?
Well, this is kind of a tricky situation, but I think we might have been a love at first sight sort of thing. Although, we sort of act like it wasn’t….complicated dating of his best friend sort of situation. And it’s hard to say when we actually got together because we had our first kiss before our first date. So, I think we should count from the kiss, which was August 4, 1999. Which puts us at 8 ½ years, right?

Who eats more?
Depends on the food. J generally eats more at meals, but I definitely eat more in-between-meals sort of things. And I can put him to shame in the sweets department. I put most people to shame in that department. I am ashamed.

Who said "I love you" first?I really can’t remember. But it was definitely either me or J.

Who is taller? Jared, by about 8 inches.

Who sings better? Wow, that’s a toss up, we’re both pretty terrible. J says that I’m a good singer, but I think he might be blinded by love. Maybe he loves me more than I love him because I still say he’s a pretty bad singer.

Who is smarter?
I think we are probably pretty comparable. It’s all about who applies themselves. J definitely applies himself. He’s is such a great student. He has a 4.0 gpa for crying out loud! And well, I change diapers and microwave chicken nuggets.

Who does the laundry? Me. When it gets done. ☺

Who does the dishes? We sort of share this duty, with me being the primary dish-doer. J knows how much I loathe doing dishes, so he does them whenever he’s able.

Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? Right side when you’re looking at it, or right side when you’re in it? I’m not sure. But it’s definitely one of us.

Who pays the bills? Me.

Who mows the lawn? Both of us, but it’s usually a fight for who gets to do it. I love to do it. J doesn’t love it, but I think he’s worried that the neighbors will think he’s a slave-driver of a hubby if I’m always doing it.

Who cooks dinner? Most of the time, me, but J is often my sous chef.

Who drives when you are together? Usually J.

Who is more stubborn? Let’s see…..yeah, that would be me.

Who is the first to admit when they're wrong? Usually me, but I think that’s because I’m wrong more.

Whose parents do you see the most? J’s. They live only about an hour away.

Who kissed who first? I very uncharacteristically kissed him first. He actually didn’t kiss me back. That’s right. He said it was bad timing for me (emotionally) to be kissing anyone….and he was totally right, but still. Then we kissed for real about 5 minutes later.

Who proposed? Technically J did. But we made the decision to get married, together.

Who is more sensitive? Anyone who knows us can easily answer this question. I am about as sensitive as they come. And J is well, not.

Who has more friends? Definitely me.

Who has more siblings? Me.

Who wears the pants? We both have one leg in. It looks pretty stupid.

Ok, who to tag. How about...
Jaime S.
Lara
Pam
Sara S.
Sarah C.
Jessica
Is that too many people?
oh wait, how about Alisa P, too.

This is us on our first date (that's my bff sarah - love you sarah!...p.s. start a blog!)

Happy Christmas!

Neal Family Christmas Letter 2007 ahead!....

I know what you’re thinking. You are thinking, I don’t need to read their Christmas letter, don’t I know enough about the Neals? I mean, I read their blog, what more do they want from me?
Here is the answer to that wordy question. This year, I sent out Christmas post-cards instead of actual Christmas cards with a letter.
1. Because they only require a post-card stamp, and I am cheap and don’t want to pay full price postage. I feel like 41cents or whatever the outrageous price of postage is these days, is just that. Outrageous. So, post-cards are my way of beating the system. At least in my own mind.
2. I thought that maybe postmen and women might secretly be thankful when people send post cards so that they could do a little light reading while on their mail route.
So, I thought that I would whip up this little diddy of a Christmas letter just in case, and I did say, in case, you might be looking for a little more information about us than you obtain from this blog. And if this is not the case for you, you are excused from reading this letter.

Ok, so J first:
He is in his last little bit of his masters program. He just has student teaching, which starts in January. I am extremely proud of him for how well he has done in school. He has a 4.0 GPA. I honestly don’t know how in the world he does it with a wife and two kids, I know that we are a huge pesky distraction to him sometimes. Also, he actually seems really excited about what he is doing. A couple of months ago, he came home from teaching one of his first lessons in a school, and told me how invigorating it was to teach about art to a group of students, and how it made him feel really alive. I think that’s great. I can tell you for a fact that not one of my high-school teachers felt alive or invigorated by teaching me about anything. He’s going to make a great art teacher.

Then there’s me:
I just pretty much hang out at home, do some laundry, cook some meals, basic damage control around the house. Pretty ordinary stuff, really. Oh, and I also have a part time job at Bath & Body Works. I work a couple of shifts a week when J is home. For some reason, I’ve always sort of dreamed of working there. (I know, I should probably set my goals a little higher in the future). It just always seemed like a really fun environment. And it is, but some people take lotion a little too seriously in my opinion. While I’ve enjoyed my time working there (sort of), I will be glad when J graduates and I can go back to just being home full-time again. The hardest part about working is that I really miss my kids when I’m away.

Miss G: She is great. I really love being her mom. Ever day is interesting and fun. (and sometimes frustrating and overwhelming). But mostly just lots of fun. She is at a great stage right now where she is just so anxious to learn new things. J is teaching her to read and she is picking it right up. She loves to cook with me and has even filmed a cooking show of her own. She is very social and is always asking to “play with a friend”. When the answer to that question is ‘no’, she just plays with her brother. She is a great big sister to him, she is very protective of him and they are very loving toward each other. I love it. We have also been able to spend a lot of time with family over this past year. G absolutely loves both sides of our family and is constantly talking about different family members and asking to see them. She adores her grandmas (grandma rosemary, grandma marcia, and great grandma) who are probably the only people still reading this.

Bubba: He is crazy. To me, I feel like there is a big difference with this boy child compared to my girl child. He is constantly destructing or thinking about destructing. On a great note though, he is happy 99 % of the time. People tell me all of the time that they have never seen a kid smile as much as he smiles. It’s true, he is pretty much always smiling. He's a very sweet boy and we love him very much. He loves singing, looking at books, squeezing things, and did I mention destructing?

So, that’s us this year. We are counting down the days (171) until J graduates and we are really looking forward to getting out of student-mode and back into regular-mode. We have been really reminded this year of how much we love our family and friends and the support they’ve given us while J has been in school. We also know that the Lord has really watched over us and blessed us during this time in our lives, and we are so thankful for that fact.
We hope that everyone has had a great year! And thanks for reading our blog! I love to read other people’s blogs, so if I don’t know that you have one, post a comment so that I can find it! And if you don't have one, and maybe you also don't have a new year's resolution, you should resolve to get a blog this year!
Merry Christmas!
Love from,
The Neals

My Offspring, Future Leaders of the Fashion World

And why wouldn't they be, I mean, look at their dad....(3rd from the left). If he is not at the pinnacle of fashion, well, then, I don't know who is.
He did the 'snake as an accessory' thing way before Britney Spears.

And I've certainly rocked my fair share of overalls in my lifetime, which we all know are always at the height of fashion.

Now this is some edgy couture fashion here. Let me see if I can explain this right. You see, her top is actually the bloomers attached to the skirt. The whole thing is upside down with the crotch (eww) buttons over her shoulder. One would really have to have a mind for fashion to have come up with, let alone, execute this.

Two words. Doo. Rag.

And little bubba here has fashioned himself some shoes out of your common swim diapers. Ingenious.

Lipstick on lips is really highly predictable. Here, S is really re-inventing the 'face' of make-up, by suggesting an alternative location for lipstick.

What's that you say, this post wouldn't be complete without a mashed potato turkey? I agree.

Buckeye Football Is The Stuff

I have never seen anything quite like the team spirit centered around OSU football.
J gets football tickets since he is a student...he gets two tickets b/c he is married, but I only reap the benefits of being spouse of a student once a season. J takes friends and other family members to the other games. My game this season was the Northwestern game. We had a lot of fun, the weather was nice, and the buckeyes did not disappoint. They really opened a can on Northwestern. Final score was 58-7. I seriously felt bad for them. I thought maybe the Buckeyes could just let them get some points. But I guess that's not how things work in sports. (so J tells me).

Has it been that long?

Wow, Jared and I just recently celebrated our 6th wedding anniversary. Time has gone so fast, and I'm so happy that I've spent this fast flying time with Jared. I've never been so happy in my whole life as I've been since we've been in love!

No tag-backs

So, i got tagged for this quiz thing by several people. Normally, I like to be 'anti' about these sorts of things.....but i thought it might be fun. Anyway, they were all different questions, so i just combined them...a question or so from each...so here you go...

Jobs I've held...
1. Bakery Clerk
2. Waitress
3. Recruiting coordinator for Career Placement at BYU
4. Bath & Body Works sales associate

Movies I can watch over and over...
1. Harry Potter...any of them
2. Girls Just Want to Have Fun
3. Drumline
4. Save the Last Dance
5. Napoleon Dynamite

My Guilty Pleasures...
1. Chocolate Chip Cookies
2. People Magazine
3. Handbags
4. Garage Sales

TV Shows I enjoy...
1. The Office
2. The Bachelor
3. Lost
4. HGTV...designed to sell, house hunters, or anything else

What were the first things you thought of when you saw your significant other for the first time?...
1. Hey, why's that guy staring at me
2. And, what's with the dog tie?
3. Ooh, but pretty blue eyes
4. Seriously, stop staring.

Places I have been on vacation...
1. Playa Del Carmen, Mexico...(this was our honeymoon, gorgeous)
2. Telluride, Colorado (really cute little town in the mountains, loved it!)
3. The Homestead Resort in West Virginia (we went in the fall and it was lovely)
4. Oregon Coast and the Redwoods (one of the prettiest places I've been!)

Favorite foods...
1. Good Chips and Salsa...and,well really anything 'fresh mex'
2. Cookies
3. Outback steak, baked potato, and salad with blue cheese dressing
4. Japanese hibachi style food and sushi

Awards I have won
1. A youth talent award for flute in high school
2. Some random scholarships in high school
3. This is a stretch, but i got a crown, so, does homecoming queen count?

Hobbies I enjoy...
1. Decorating
2. Cooking for people (especially for my hubby)
3. Reading
4. Scrapbooking

Secretly, I wish I could....
1. Afford a maid
2. Play the Piano
3. Pull off wearing vintage clothing

A random thing about me...
Well, I really hate to carry milk jugs.

I tag...
1. Lisa W.
2. Kim R....get a blog already!
3. Margo S.
4. Jessica O.
I think these are the only bloggers I know that didn't tag me,,,sorry!